Angband: Gaming like it's 1980

Posted: March 8, 2016

Angband is a sprawling rogue-like adventure game that has been under steady development since some point in the 80s. It’s massive, ugly, difficult, and a great way to lose an entire weekend. Simply put, it’s one of the most intense, difficult RPGs that you’ll ever encounter.

Sometimes it looks like this:

But it can also look like this:

You can play it in your browser, via The Internet Archive.

This is an older version, and it will not preserve your save files. I highly recommend that you download the latest version if you’re interested in playing it for more than a few minutes.

You’ll need the Players Guide. and the User Manual. Seriously, don’t give up on the game until you’ve glanced through one of those documents. It’s a real hoot.

I lose a few hours a month to this game. Then I die, and in my anger I don’t pick it up again for weeks (just in time to lose a few hours of the next month to it.)

For a more modern take on the same themes, I’ve heard good things about ADOM. For an even larger, angrier, and altogether more frustrating game, I recommend Dwarf Fortress.

Give it a shot, you won’t be disappointed. (Well, you will be disappointed. Frequently. But it’s a good kind of disappointment.)